New Delhi: The government on Wednesday announced that it has blocked more than 100 websites engaged in orchestrated investment and task-based part-time job scams. According to the government, these websites facilitated illegal economic crimes related to investment.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in an official release said that these sites, operated by overseas “cyber threat actors,” used digital advertising, chat messengers, mule accounts, and rented accounts.
“It was also learnt that proceeds from the large scale economic frauds were seen to be laundered out of India using card network, cryptocurrency, overseas ATM withdrawals and international Fintech companies,” the MHA said.
“Under the guidance of Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah, M/o Home Affairs is committed to curbing cybercrime and protecting people from cyber threat actors,” it added.
Talking about how these fraudsters operated, the government said that they initiated specific digital advertising campaigns on Google and Meta. They use keywords such as “ghar baithe job” and “ghar baithe kamai kaise karen” in various languages, originating from overseas advertisers.
The primary targets, as per the government, are retired employees, women, and unemployed youth actively seeking part-time employment opportunities.
“Upon clicking the advertisement, an agent using WhatsApp or Telegram starts a conversation with the potential victim, who convinces him/her to perform some tasks like video likes and subscribe, maps rating, etc,” the Centre said.
After completing the assigned task, the victim receives an initial commission and is encouraged to invest more funds to yield greater returns for the completed assignment.
Having gained the victim’s confidence, once a larger sum is deposited, the deposits are frozen, ultimately leading to the victim being duped, as stated by the Centre.